A Moment That Was Mine
by tigersmeleth
Summary: Helo remembers a moment with Sharon that he calls his own while they are both stranded on Caprica. HeloBoomer implied, spoilers through Bastille Day.


**A Moment That Was Mine**

By Tiger

**Summary:** Helo remembers a moment with Sharon that he calls his own while they are both stranded on Caprica. Helo/Boomer implied, spoilers through Bastille Day.

**Disclaimer:** Battlestar Galactica does not belong to me in any way, shape or form. Feel free to archive, but please tell me before you start putting my stories away.

Cylon Occupied Caprica

Helo sat with her in the rain, watching her fuss and take care of him. Somehow, when it was Sharon holding the needle, he didn't hate them as much. It was much better for her to be the one to give him his anti-radiation meds. Her fingers were long, graceful, and gentle. He could feel the soft caress of her fingers over his wound long after her fingers left to cook or scan for signals.

Her couldn't help but wish that her fingers caressed his mouth instead, as nice as they felt on his thigh. But he couldn't think about that, just like he couldn't think about it two months after he met her. Helo gave a small, amised snort, causing Sharon to look up from bandaging his leg. He tried not to stare too much into her eyes. They were after all, in Cylon territory; it wasn't a good idea to release any sexual urges while the toasters were hot on their trail, along with other complications.

"What?" she asked him with a puzzled frown. "You can't possibly find anything funny. Your leg is barely healed, and we've got Cylon after Cylon trying to run us down in this jungle."

"It's nothing," Helo muttered, embarrassed. He risked another peek at Sharon. Whatever she was doing to his leg, it felt good.

"Alright then," she replied in a tone that told him her curiosity was anything but satisfied. She lightly massaged the muscle around the wound.

"Just remembering why you're called Boomer," He explain with a small grin. "Somehow, I can't imagine you being that nervous little rook on her first landing."

"Blame the Cylons?" She joked half-heartedly. She smiled, but not before Helo caught a flash of fear on her face. He squeezed one of her hands.

"Hey," he ran his thumb across the smooth skin of her hand. "We'll get off of this planet somehow and get back to _Galactica_."

"I know," she fidgeted, "But until then—"

"We run like hell," Helo finished for her. He released her hand and let her finish up bandaging his leg. He took a closer look at Sharon, noting the dark circles that were beginning to form under her eyes, the fearful, et sure look in her eyes and realized all the running they had been doing. It was close to dark anyways, they could rest.

"Sharon," she looked up at him. "Go to sleep. You've slept less than I have."

"But the Cylons," she began to protest. He put a hand on her shoulder and guided her to lay down.

"They Cylons probably won't come for another few hours. It's been like that." He made sure she was comfortable as she could have been under the circumstances. "I'll wake you up if anything happens." He saw the look on her face. He should have realized earlier that she wasn't going to sleep without a fight.

"You're the injured one, you should let your body rest." She crossed her arms and looked rather like a petulant child. Helo had to suppress a smile. She would never sleep if he actually did smile at her. She'd ask why he was smiling, and the he'd tell her because he couldn't lie to save his life, and then she would never let him forget the fact that he thought of her as a petulant child. Even if he thought she made an adorable petulant child.

"Sharon, you've been taking care of me, you're exhausted," he held up a hand to quell the other argument that he knew was coming. "Please, let me do the same for you." Sharon bit her lip. Helo really needed to keep his mind on the matter at hand. She sighed.

"Fine." She flopped herself backwards and covered her eyes. He let himself have a satisfied smile before settling himself down. There were days, when Sharon just stopped being meek, passive Sharon, and she became Boomer. Seeing as the forest was quiet, he let his mind drift off a bit. It wasn't as if he had anything better to do, and he was bored. Granted, he could watch her as she slept, but he decided that it wasn't very gentleman-like. Her heart wasn't his, it belonged to the Chief.

But there was one moment that was his and only his; not even the Chief could claim it. Helo with her on her first Raptor landing on board the _Galactica_. The memory always brought a smile on his face.

Battlestar _Galactica_, one year before the Cylon Attack

Helo sat in the ECO's seat aboard his Raptor, monitoring the progress of the rookie pilot they assigned to him. He supposed he was lucky that he was overseeing her as sa Raptor pilot rather than a Viper pilot. He could see why her instructors at the academy put her in the cockpit exactly twice before telling her that a Raptor would be a better idea for her unsure, shaky, hands and her nervousness at flying alone. At least, that's what Kara told him. One never could be sure whether Kara was exaggerating or telling it like it was. He was relieved to find that she had been exaggerating about Sharon. So far, she flew excellently even while she was neverous. For a rook flying with a new partner who was also her superior officer who didn't even have a callsign yet that is.

"Ok, Lieutenant Valerii, nice job on the Alexandrian Maneuver," it really was a good job for someone who probably felt sleepier than he did. "The end point was overshot by only a few hundred kilometers, nothing that won't get corrected in time."

"Thank you sir," she replied quietly, her head downcast. He couldn't see her face—Helo silently cursed the bulkiness of the helmets—but he could tell from her slumped shoulders and disappointed tone that she had sorely underestimated her own rate of progress.

"You did fine, Sharon. We'll go over a few of those again tomorrow," he walked over to put a hand on her shoulder, regardless of the fact that he was most likely breaking about twenty minor rules in doing so, but she needed it. Even though she was able to fly like someone who had a year's experience under her belt, he did have to remind himself that she was a rookie, one who badly needed some assurance that she was doing fine.

"Why don't you try a landing this time?" he suggested. "It's about time you tried one."

"Uh, sir, I really don't know if I should…" she swiveled around to look at him in the eye. He could have sworn that she looked a little green at the idea. Definitely nerves. Helo stepped out of instructor mode and into…well he wasn't sure where he was stepping into. Possibly friendship, since that's where they seemed to be going these days, but possibly an unrequited crush. Either way, now was not the time to be dwelling on such thoughts.

"You're the Raptor pilot, Sharon, which means I follow you, not the other way around. Landing this thing isn't the easiest, but you can o it. I know you've earned your wings." Helo looked deep into her eyes, wanting her to trust him, and herself.

"I trust you," she softly stated and turned back to her controls.

"Nah," Helo tried to lighten the moment. "You gotta trust you, since you're the one landing it. I just get to sit back and enjoy the ride," In truth, he was flattered by her simple statement. A partnership for a Raptor was never lightly taken, and it took far more than just two test runs for a plot to trust her ECO.

"Then you'd better hope that it's not like the big rollercoaster at that amusement park outside of Caprica City that Kara took you to!" Helo flinched at the combination of wryness and seriousness in her tone.

"I hate that rollercoaster," he muttered. He mad sure to keep a grip on the sides of his seat.

"You have to trust me remember? I'm your pilot," He could have sworn that just minutes before, she was too nervous to even crack a smile, and now she was cracking jokes? He had a bad feeling about that.

He was right. Sharon did a textbook perfect landing, following proper landing procedure, keeping up good communications between herself and Galactica as she performed a hands-on landing. But that was just it, it was a textbook perfect landing. She didn't compensate for any individual factors that she would have compensated for when she was just flying. Sharon was right, it was _exactly_ like riding the dreaded rollercoaster in the amusement park, and he hated it. If he only concentrated on the sounds of the explosions and the screeches the Raptor made as it slid across the hanger deck, he would have been fine; the up and down motions did him in. _Boomer,_ he thought, _I've got one hell of a boomer as my pilot._ It was a while before all of it finally stopped. He looked over to Sharon and saw that she was flushing with embarrassment while she was taking off her helmet.

"Now wouldn't be a good time to tell you that this is the first time I've actually done a hands-on landing, would it?" she said meekly, looking away. He felt bad for her, she did try to warn him.

"It wasn't bad, you just need practice," He looked her in the eye. "You got the hard stuff out of the way, we'll work on polishing up the other stuff later, got that?"

"You hated the landing," she said dejectedly. He knelt down so he could see her better and winked up at her.

"Just the rollercoaster it reminds me of. Too many ups and downs on a planet, not to mention that the seat was only held on by six nuts and screws." He let his face screw up a little. He could take a hit to his pride if it meant that she would feel better about her landing.

"Besides, when it comes to flying a Raptor, there's nothing wrong with being a late boomer," He saw the glare piercing through him. That wasn't what he meant to say. "Bloomer! I meant to say bloomer!" He was rather close to hitting his head on the nearest console. They had both done well in working together and raising her self esteem, he was really hoping that they hadn't gone ten steps back. He was her partner, he was supposed to be the one who guided and supported her, not mocking her landing skills, no matter how rough they might have been.

"So, L.T., seeing as I like explosions and scaring the frak out of my ECO when I land, is being a "boomer" such a bad thing?" Sharon rested her chin on her head, waiting for an answer. Damn, the girl had a sense of humor, he made a note to watch out for that in the future.

"Well Boomer, I think we've got a call sign for you!" She broke into an ear to ear grin that took his breath away. Oh he'd seen it before, especially when she was joking around with Kara, but it was even better when they were alone and she was only giving that smile to him.

"Scaring you ECO every time you land however, is not an option." She was shaking her head and laughing by now.

"After all the hours of maneuvering I had to do for you? A little explosion here and there wouldn't hurt you." Sharon smirked.

"Of all the Raptor pilots I had to be partnered with, it's Kara's friend and student who somehow absorbed her insane obsession with rollercoasters and disastrous landings." Helo groaned, completely unaware that he was still kneeling and holding her shoulders. All he knew was her laughter, and the warm feeling it generated within him.

Cylon Occupied Caprica

Helo was still smiling at the pleasant memory of a world and time that seemed so far away when thunder and lightening burst through the sky. He looked down at Sharon to see if the sound woke her. She only stirred. She looked so young, so different from before. He hadn't realized it until now, but the Cylon attack had aged her. He let his fingertips stroke her cheek as he moved a wayward bang away from her face.

It had started to rain. He glared at the dark sky, muttering curses at the rain clouds. Sharon would be wet now, and she wouldn't get a good night's sleep if she was cold and shivering. Helo gently picked Sharon up and cradled her to his chest while he looked for a tree to rest themselves under.

He put her back down only when he was sure he found one with enough branches to black out most of the rain so she would stay warm. He didn't want to let her go however, so he placed her head on his good thigh, and kept a protective arm around her. She deserved a good rest for taking care of him, even though their chances of escaping the planet were getting smaller as each day passed. It was his turn to take care of her, from now to eternity, even if it only meant being the best friend should could ever have.

Fin!


End file.
